Monday, March 22, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Windows 7 Phone - Colour Me Surprised
So at the World Mobile Congress just concluded Microsoft unveiled a new operating system for mobile phones.
Well , colour me surprised. They've actually done a good job and created something that doesn't suck. A number of smart moves. It remains to be seen if it is too little too late but it certainly came as a shock to me.
I was expecting a rehash of the tired old Windows OS jigged to support touch. Something like the lame tablets Ballmer showed us at CES. Lipstick on a pig.
Instead they have done some good things.
The first good thing is to make some hard decisions about supporting a quite specific hardware platform. To run the operating system MS are specifying even certain performance specifications as well as screen type, size and number of buttons. This is going to annoy the heck out of handset manufacturers but make it much easier for application developers - one place where Apple has had a big win over Google's fragmented Android platform.
The second good thing is that the interface is taken from an almost blank slate. It looks and plays a little like the Zune interface but only a little. There are some really nice things going on there. I think it has too much eye candy and not enough real information density for the small form factor but there is promise.
Of course there are some things I think are mistakes (the FM radio and overspecifying the camera as a minimum 5 megapixels, for example) and it remains to be seen what else plays out between now and anyone actually shipping a handset but this might actually provide some decent competition to the iPhone. If it does I await the reply from Apple with bated breathe, the competition will only do us all some good.
The one thing that gives me pause is the hope that somebody in Microsoft will realise the game changer that the iPad represents and realise shifting this OS up to a tablet is so much smarter than any of the dreck efforts at putting a touch interface on a desktop operating system that Steve Ballmer thinks will compete with it if his CES performance is anything to go by. I don't hold out too much hope. Microsoft has always seemed to wedded to the past and it's desktop OS.
Well , colour me surprised. They've actually done a good job and created something that doesn't suck. A number of smart moves. It remains to be seen if it is too little too late but it certainly came as a shock to me.
I was expecting a rehash of the tired old Windows OS jigged to support touch. Something like the lame tablets Ballmer showed us at CES. Lipstick on a pig.
Instead they have done some good things.
The first good thing is to make some hard decisions about supporting a quite specific hardware platform. To run the operating system MS are specifying even certain performance specifications as well as screen type, size and number of buttons. This is going to annoy the heck out of handset manufacturers but make it much easier for application developers - one place where Apple has had a big win over Google's fragmented Android platform.
The second good thing is that the interface is taken from an almost blank slate. It looks and plays a little like the Zune interface but only a little. There are some really nice things going on there. I think it has too much eye candy and not enough real information density for the small form factor but there is promise.
Of course there are some things I think are mistakes (the FM radio and overspecifying the camera as a minimum 5 megapixels, for example) and it remains to be seen what else plays out between now and anyone actually shipping a handset but this might actually provide some decent competition to the iPhone. If it does I await the reply from Apple with bated breathe, the competition will only do us all some good.
The one thing that gives me pause is the hope that somebody in Microsoft will realise the game changer that the iPad represents and realise shifting this OS up to a tablet is so much smarter than any of the dreck efforts at putting a touch interface on a desktop operating system that Steve Ballmer thinks will compete with it if his CES performance is anything to go by. I don't hold out too much hope. Microsoft has always seemed to wedded to the past and it's desktop OS.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Stop Your Whining
OK, that's enough. I'm sick and tired of all the arguments about the new iPad and I'm sick and tired of people arguing about the hardware and telling us that a Windows Tablet or Google Android machine wth a touch interface or a Netbook will be just as good and no one will want an iPad.
In the design world when looking at redesigning such things as web sites they talk about "use cases" or "user stories." So here's one for the iPad skeptics.
My mother died two years ago having spent only a few hours using a computer. They were too complicated for her and she never saw a huge need when she had a son ready to do her typing for her. This in a woman with an honours BA and three postgraduate qualitifications in psychotherapy and teaching. Over the years her two sons, one with a Phd in computer science and the other with many years experience as a programmer and support technician, tried hard. She did want to learn, she was envious that I could dash off an email to my brother and his three kids. She had to wait for me to bring over my laptop to see the latest pictures. She had a Mac but was never comfortable using it and it was breaking and the software was constantly out of date, supporting her was not an easy task. She was also constantly asking things like "can I use this software that Betty uses?" or "the thing is always telling me a new version is available" when she would download an update but not know how to apply it. She found it hard to know when she had a new email. She even had trouble getting used to a mouse.
Now imagine I go out and buy her an iPad. "How do I install this new software, Tony?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I know I've got the latest version?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How can I be sure the software runs on my iPad?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I find new software?" Go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I know I've got an email?" See the picture of the envelope, if it has a number on it, that's how many unread emails you have. "How do I keep all my writing safe?" Plug the iPad into the Mac, Mum. I'll come and do it for you once a week or so. "How do I keep these photos of the grandkids your brother sent in an email?" Just touch them Mum and it will ask if you want to save them.
My Mum would use her iPad at home, but take it to the office she shared with several psychotherapists, even if only to show the latest pictures of the grandkids. She would write a few emails, some teaching notes. She might play a game and perhaps extend herself to looking at a few websites.
Now do you think my Mum would be happy doing that on an iPhone? No way on that tiny screen. So there goes the argument that the iPad is just a big iPhone. Do you think she could handle keeping the software up to date on a Linux Netbook or Windows Tablet? No, that's one of the things that had her confused with a Mac. So they can go out the window, too. Could she be sure the software someone was telling her about would run? She'd need to know the brand and model of her device, the version of operating system, all sorts of of inconsequential details. Does she want to deal with viruses, file formats, crashes and programs that don't work together? Does she want to know that if she saves a photo in an email to the wrong place she can't display it in her sideshows?
No, doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
So all you naysayers, realise what Apple has done. Apple have given us an entire hardware, software and back end system that tries very hard to get out of your way and let you get on with it. It's not the hardware, not the App Store, not the easy to use multi-touch interface, it's not the tightly integrated Apple apps, not the ideal size and weight, not the hardware keyboard that's there when you want it and not dragging you down when you don't. It's all these things incredibly tightly integrated together into one package that Apple has spent several years developing and delivering.
How many people do you know that don't really care about computers, they just like what they can do? Yeah, I know dozens, too.
Stop your whining and go buy an iPad for your mother.
In the design world when looking at redesigning such things as web sites they talk about "use cases" or "user stories." So here's one for the iPad skeptics.
My mother died two years ago having spent only a few hours using a computer. They were too complicated for her and she never saw a huge need when she had a son ready to do her typing for her. This in a woman with an honours BA and three postgraduate qualitifications in psychotherapy and teaching. Over the years her two sons, one with a Phd in computer science and the other with many years experience as a programmer and support technician, tried hard. She did want to learn, she was envious that I could dash off an email to my brother and his three kids. She had to wait for me to bring over my laptop to see the latest pictures. She had a Mac but was never comfortable using it and it was breaking and the software was constantly out of date, supporting her was not an easy task. She was also constantly asking things like "can I use this software that Betty uses?" or "the thing is always telling me a new version is available" when she would download an update but not know how to apply it. She found it hard to know when she had a new email. She even had trouble getting used to a mouse.
Now imagine I go out and buy her an iPad. "How do I install this new software, Tony?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I know I've got the latest version?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How can I be sure the software runs on my iPad?" Just go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I find new software?" Go to the App Store, Mum. "How do I know I've got an email?" See the picture of the envelope, if it has a number on it, that's how many unread emails you have. "How do I keep all my writing safe?" Plug the iPad into the Mac, Mum. I'll come and do it for you once a week or so. "How do I keep these photos of the grandkids your brother sent in an email?" Just touch them Mum and it will ask if you want to save them.
My Mum would use her iPad at home, but take it to the office she shared with several psychotherapists, even if only to show the latest pictures of the grandkids. She would write a few emails, some teaching notes. She might play a game and perhaps extend herself to looking at a few websites.
Now do you think my Mum would be happy doing that on an iPhone? No way on that tiny screen. So there goes the argument that the iPad is just a big iPhone. Do you think she could handle keeping the software up to date on a Linux Netbook or Windows Tablet? No, that's one of the things that had her confused with a Mac. So they can go out the window, too. Could she be sure the software someone was telling her about would run? She'd need to know the brand and model of her device, the version of operating system, all sorts of of inconsequential details. Does she want to deal with viruses, file formats, crashes and programs that don't work together? Does she want to know that if she saves a photo in an email to the wrong place she can't display it in her sideshows?
No, doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
So all you naysayers, realise what Apple has done. Apple have given us an entire hardware, software and back end system that tries very hard to get out of your way and let you get on with it. It's not the hardware, not the App Store, not the easy to use multi-touch interface, it's not the tightly integrated Apple apps, not the ideal size and weight, not the hardware keyboard that's there when you want it and not dragging you down when you don't. It's all these things incredibly tightly integrated together into one package that Apple has spent several years developing and delivering.
How many people do you know that don't really care about computers, they just like what they can do? Yeah, I know dozens, too.
Stop your whining and go buy an iPad for your mother.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Joys and frustrations of OS X
So this week, after coming back rested from a week in Bali I've attacked a few problems that need to be handled before I build next years image.
My first was to get one of my test boxes up as a 10.6 OS X Server. I not only got it up in quick order I managed to get one of the network guys to give me a static IP, a bunch of aliases for it and punch a hole or to in the firewall ready for some of the services.
It's important to get DNS aliases for your test server. It makes it trivial when you decide to shift out of test into production - no changes required on your clients, just a change in your corporate DNS.
My next task was to get Puppet up and running. I'm planning on using Puppet to look after some configuration details. At first in the student labs but then on the staff machines.
The only complication was that when the Puppet server (or puppetmasterd for those that know the details) comes up it wants to use the definitive name for your host and I wwanted to use one of those aliases. This means that puppetmasterd wants to hand out a security certificate for one name while the client expects a certificate with another. Luckily one line in the puppetconfig file (certname = "alias.example.com") and puppetmasterd gives out the right certificate.
My next task was to get managed preferences (or MCX) working with the dslocal domain. I managed that on my other test box, I even got puppet running on it and getting the MCX preferences from the puppet server.
That was a fair amount of success for the week. Then I started running into trouble.
I managed to use dscl to add a computer to /Local/Default under 10.5, I failed under 10.6 and couldn't get a computer into a group in either. I may have to do some deep exploration to get these things working. If you have any working shell for any of these I'd really appreciate a hint or two.
Once I have those done I'm going to set out to explore nodes and such under puppet. Lots of learning in the next month or two.
My first was to get one of my test boxes up as a 10.6 OS X Server. I not only got it up in quick order I managed to get one of the network guys to give me a static IP, a bunch of aliases for it and punch a hole or to in the firewall ready for some of the services.
It's important to get DNS aliases for your test server. It makes it trivial when you decide to shift out of test into production - no changes required on your clients, just a change in your corporate DNS.
My next task was to get Puppet up and running. I'm planning on using Puppet to look after some configuration details. At first in the student labs but then on the staff machines.
The only complication was that when the Puppet server (or puppetmasterd for those that know the details) comes up it wants to use the definitive name for your host and I wwanted to use one of those aliases. This means that puppetmasterd wants to hand out a security certificate for one name while the client expects a certificate with another. Luckily one line in the puppetconfig file (certname = "alias.example.com") and puppetmasterd gives out the right certificate.
My next task was to get managed preferences (or MCX) working with the dslocal domain. I managed that on my other test box, I even got puppet running on it and getting the MCX preferences from the puppet server.
That was a fair amount of success for the week. Then I started running into trouble.
I managed to use dscl to add a computer to /Local/Default under 10.5, I failed under 10.6 and couldn't get a computer into a group in either. I may have to do some deep exploration to get these things working. If you have any working shell for any of these I'd really appreciate a hint or two.
Once I have those done I'm going to set out to explore nodes and such under puppet. Lots of learning in the next month or two.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Services and Snow Leopard
Ok, so across the world Snow Leopard is becoming available as I write.
Apple is billing this as an operating system release without major features. For once a computer company is underselling. Make no mistake this is a major improvement for all owners of an Intel Mac, and further argument to upgrade for all those still on PPC. This is a faster, slicker, more organised OS than Leopard. Snow Leopard is dramatically faster. Apple have also snuck a few really cool features in below the radar.
One they should be singing from the rooftops is the improvement to 'Services' - those little add-ons that applications could add to the contextual menu. First, they are now contextual - if you have a piece of text selected then you won't be offered the possibility of calculating a disk image checksum. Second, you can easily write them yourself using Automator.
Just to make sure you get the best from AppleScript, Automator and Services Apple have built a new website to explain it all to you, provide some neat tools and some even better training - the Services training features some nice video's with Sal Soghoian, AppleScript guru now a Product Manager at Apple for all things automatic. Visit http://www.macosxautomation.com/ and enjoy.
By the way, is it only me or do Apple's support and documentation websites just make everyone else's seem amateur and garish by comparison. Mac OS X Automation is a perfect example - apart from a legal disclaimer that mentions Apple and the Apple logo discreetly visible in the top right corner you would be hard pressed to realise this is an Apple built website. It's just a site chock full of good information well presented.
But I digress. Many others will write reviews of the new OS, I just wanted to share a little of my joy with you.
Apple is billing this as an operating system release without major features. For once a computer company is underselling. Make no mistake this is a major improvement for all owners of an Intel Mac, and further argument to upgrade for all those still on PPC. This is a faster, slicker, more organised OS than Leopard. Snow Leopard is dramatically faster. Apple have also snuck a few really cool features in below the radar.
One they should be singing from the rooftops is the improvement to 'Services' - those little add-ons that applications could add to the contextual menu. First, they are now contextual - if you have a piece of text selected then you won't be offered the possibility of calculating a disk image checksum. Second, you can easily write them yourself using Automator.
Just to make sure you get the best from AppleScript, Automator and Services Apple have built a new website to explain it all to you, provide some neat tools and some even better training - the Services training features some nice video's with Sal Soghoian, AppleScript guru now a Product Manager at Apple for all things automatic. Visit http://www.macosxautomation.com/ and enjoy.
By the way, is it only me or do Apple's support and documentation websites just make everyone else's seem amateur and garish by comparison. Mac OS X Automation is a perfect example - apart from a legal disclaimer that mentions Apple and the Apple logo discreetly visible in the top right corner you would be hard pressed to realise this is an Apple built website. It's just a site chock full of good information well presented.
But I digress. Many others will write reviews of the new OS, I just wanted to share a little of my joy with you.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Bento gets even prettier
I've already posted on Bento 2. I think it's a marvelous product and proof positive that no one can beat FileMaker when it comes to making databases easier.
So now they have released Bento for the iPhone. For $5.99 here in Oz, $4.99 in the U.S., you get a neat little database application with a number of templates you can customise. You can even create a database from scratch. All incredibly easy to use.
To top it all off you can synchronise your iPhone databases with the ones on your Mac (at the record level, thank you very much.)
This makes Bento an essential buy on both platforms.
So now they have released Bento for the iPhone. For $5.99 here in Oz, $4.99 in the U.S., you get a neat little database application with a number of templates you can customise. You can even create a database from scratch. All incredibly easy to use.
To top it all off you can synchronise your iPhone databases with the ones on your Mac (at the record level, thank you very much.)
This makes Bento an essential buy on both platforms.
Monday, May 4, 2009
There goes the productivity - Myst comes to the iPhone
Back in the dim, dark ages of Macintosh computing I was Associate Editor of Australian Macworld and the big news in games was a small company called Cyan that had released another great game built on HyperCard called "Myst."
Myst was the biggest selling computer game ever until it was passed by the Sims in 2002 - almost ten years on top.
I certainly wasted far too many hours playing Myst and the first sequel, Riven.
The Miller brothers had re-imagined computer gaming with earlier games such as Manhole that had no scoring or plot, just attempted to immerse you in an environment that you had to explore. With Myst they got the right combination of game play, images and sound to capture the imagination of people.
So at the moment I am resisting strongly the urge to download Myst, I know I'll lose a fortnight of spare time before I'll be able to break away.
On a more general note it is good to see games such as Myst and Castle Wolfenstein gaining a revival on the new platform. The classics deserve not to be forgotten and iPhone gamers benefit from decent games at a decent price. Of course Apple won't be complaining, Myst wants 1.5 Gb of space in your phone so it doesn't take many games like this before we'll be eagerly awaiting a 32Gb iPhone to fit them all in.
Myst was the biggest selling computer game ever until it was passed by the Sims in 2002 - almost ten years on top.
I certainly wasted far too many hours playing Myst and the first sequel, Riven.
The Miller brothers had re-imagined computer gaming with earlier games such as Manhole that had no scoring or plot, just attempted to immerse you in an environment that you had to explore. With Myst they got the right combination of game play, images and sound to capture the imagination of people.
So at the moment I am resisting strongly the urge to download Myst, I know I'll lose a fortnight of spare time before I'll be able to break away.
On a more general note it is good to see games such as Myst and Castle Wolfenstein gaining a revival on the new platform. The classics deserve not to be forgotten and iPhone gamers benefit from decent games at a decent price. Of course Apple won't be complaining, Myst wants 1.5 Gb of space in your phone so it doesn't take many games like this before we'll be eagerly awaiting a 32Gb iPhone to fit them all in.
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